Riddell Road runoff distresses pair of readers

The in basket: Two readers say storm water runoff on Riddell
Road in East Bremerton just west of Highway 303 needs
attention.

Bob Carter wrote in early March to say, “During a hard
rain while driving west on Riddell Road from Wheaton Way most of
the entire lane is water flowing down from further west on Riddell
Road. This creates a hazard while driving and the road gets large
chuck holes and loose gravel on the roadway.

“I noticed the other day the city of Bremerton was patching the
holes but after the next rain there will be additional chuck holes
in that area. Water run-off needs to be better contained to keep it
out of the roadway.

Glen Adrig wrote a couple weeks later to say, “Since there
is only one drain grating on the north side of Riddell (located
close to the corner of Riddell/Wheaton), which is tasked to collect
and drain the water run off for about a 1/3 of a mile from the west
(from Redwood Plaza, to Peace Lutheran, and on up to Bowwood
Circle), each moderate rainfall results in flooding and cars
splashing huge quantities of water as they travel past Redwood
Plaza.

“The closest drain grating is uphill near the intersection of
Bowwood Circle and Riddell Road, and it does very little to
mitigate the historic flooding on the north side of the road near
Riddell and Wheaton.

“I’ve noticed pavement markings from locator services around the
northwest corner of Wheaton Way and Riddell Road. Is this an
indication that the city of Bremerton is going to finally address
the lack of adequate drainage, and the subsequent flooding and bad
pavement surfaces caused by all of the water run off that collects
on the north side of Riddell at Wheaton Way whenever there is a
moderate rainfall?

“This is a fix that has been needed for more than 20 years, and
the city is long overdue to remedy this problem,” Glen said.

The out basket: Neither the patching Bob saw nor the painted
markings at the Wheaton Way intersection are indications the city
has plans to correct this, though it does. Public Works
Director Chal Martin says, “We do have a capital improvement
project in our Drainage Utility plan for this work. It is
currently scheduled for design work in 2017 and construction work
in 2018.”

The markings Glen sees are on nearly every public
intersection along Wheaton Way and are preparation for improvements
at the intersections to meet Americans with Disability Act
standards for pedestrian access.

The pedestrian signals will be converted to audible-beep buttons
that sound when they are pushed, and countdown signal heads that
tell those in the crosswalk how much more time they have to get
across. The curb cuts will be brought up to current standards and
the yellow rumble pads that help the blind know where they are will
be added.

It’s a state project on that state highway and is related to the
repaving on the highway in the city due in 2017. Work on the
pedestrian improvements already has begun and workmen can be seen
modifying the poles on which the electronics are mounted.